Screen and storm sash fastener



April 3, 1956 A. MOELLER 2,740,652

SCREEN AND STORM SASH FASTENER Filed Sept. 19, 1952 :i i llllllllm In IIIIIIIIW INVENTOR AXEL MOELLER ATTORNEYS United States Patent SCREEN AND STORM SASH FASTENER Axel Mueller, Racine, Wis., assignor to Ludwig Manufacturing Company, Racine, Wis.

Application September 19, 1952, Serial No. 310,497

1 Claim. (Cl. 292-204) This invention relates to storm and window screen fasteners of the general type shown in the Dahnert Patent No. 2,122,130 issued January 28, 1938.

In the fastener shown in the Dahnert patent, the resilient fingers and hinge barrels of the fastener were formed by slitting the base plate longitudinally, and in actual practice, the resilient fingers tended to bind on the walls of the slot incident to the raising and lowering of the latch lever on the base plate. Likewise, the movement of the lever tended to cause the continued tearing of the slits resulting in the breaking off of the resilient fingers.

One of the primary objects of my present invention is to provide an effective and simple means for treating the base plate, after the formation of the slits, so as to slightly spread the resilient fingers laterally of the body portion of the base plate, and thereby increase the width of the slits or increase the spacing of the resilient fingers from the body portion, whereby to permit free springing of the fingers without binding.

A further important object of the invention is to form the base plate in such a manner that not only will the width of the slits be materially increased, but whereby the tearing of the slits at their inner ends is precluded.

A still further important object of the invention is the provision of means during the fabrication of the base plate and by the use of a suitable tool, such as a punch, for indenting the lower face of the base plate at the inner ends of the slits, so that the metal forced from said indentations will function to effectively spread the resilient fingers laterally and thus increase the width of the slits, with the indentations also functioning to prevent further tearing of the slits.

With these and other objects in view, the invention consists in the novel construction, arrangement and formation of parts as will be hereinafter more specifically described and claimed and illustrated in the accompanying drawing, in which drawing,

Figure 1 is a fragmentary front elevational view of a window frame, showing a storm sash associated therewith and with my improved fastener in its operative position for holding the sash in place against movement.

Figure 2 is a sectional view taken on the line 2-2 of Figure 1 looking in the direction of the arrows, and showing the latch lever in its operative position against the storm sash.

Figure 3 is a bottom plan view of the base plate of the fastener after the formation of the slits and prior to the treating of the inner ends of the slits.

Figure 4 is a view similar to Figure 3, but showing the slits after the forming of the indentations to bring about the spreading of the spring fingers and to prevent further tearing of the slits.

Figure 5 is a transverse sectional view through the base plate taken on the line 5-5 of Figure 4 looking in the direction of the arrows and showing the indentations.

Referring to the drawing in detail, wherein similar reference characters designate corresponding parts throughout the several views, the letter F generally indicates the fastener as constructed in accordance with my present invention, and for the purpose of illustration, I have shown the fastener secured to a window frame W for holding a storm sash S or screen in the frame.

The improved fastener F embodies an attaching base plate 10 formed from a single piece of metal of resilient nature, suitably treated to resist the elements. The base plate 10 is provided adjacent to its longitudinal edges with spaced, parallel longitudinal slits 11 which form resilient fingers 12. The outer ends of the fingers are slightly arcuated to form hinge barrels 13.

Mounted upon the base plate 10 for swinging movement, is the latch lever 14 and the latch lever has formed on its inner end the laterally extending flat pintles or hinge pins 15. The lever 14 has its rear end positioned on the base plate 10 between the resilient fingers 12 and the fiat pintles 15 are inserted under the arcuated hinge barrels 13. The forward end of the lever is provided with a substantially U-shaped arm 16 for engagement with the storm sash S or screen, as the case may be. The body portion of the base plate 10 is provided with an opening 17 between the slits 11 for receiving a fastening screw 17, whereby the base plate can be secured to a window or like frame.

Now by referring to Figure 3, it can be seen that upon the making of the longitudinal slits 11, the resilient fingers 12 lie in extremely close contact with the edges of the central body portion of the plate 10 and upon the flexing of these fingers 12 a binding action takes place, which is detrimental to the free operation of the latch lever. Further, upon the continuous springing of the fingers 12, there is a tendency for the metal to tear at the ends of the slits.

Now, in accordance with my invention, and as best shown in Figures 4 and 5, the inner face of the base plate 10 at the ends of the slits 11, is indented, as at 18, by the use of a suitable tool, such as a punch or the like. As the tool strikes the metal of the base plate to form the indentations 18, the metal is displaced, causing the spreading laterally of the resilient fingers 12 to increase the width of the slits 11. Thus, as clearly shown in Figure 4, the fingers 12 diverge slightly away from one another in opposite directions and away from the central body portion of the plate 10. The increased width of the slits now permits the free flexing of the resilient fingers. By forming the indentations 18 directly at the inner ends of the slits, the indentations prevent further tearing of the slits incident to the continued springing of the resilient fingers. While I have shown the indentations 18 of a circular shape in the drawing, it is to be understood that these indentations can be of any configuration.

Changes in details may be made without departing from the spirit or the scope of this invention, but what I claim as new is:

A resilient fastener comprising a base plate having a pair of longitudinal slits defining resilient fingers, arcuate hinge barrels formed on the outer ends of the said fingers, a latch lever having laterally extending hinge pintles disposed on the upper surface of the base plate with the pintles in said barrels, and a pair of indentations in said base plate, each indentation being at the inner end of a respective slit, said resilient fingers diverging laterally from the centralportion of said body.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 703,349 Nonnemacher June 24, 1902 703,350 Nonnemacher June 24, 1902 1,827,810 Cooper Oct. 20, 1931 2,122,130 Dahnert June 28, 1938 

